Inner Loop - CBD, Downtown, East Bank, Germantown, Gulch, Rutledge

[jmtunafish]

4 minutes ago, nashvylle said:

Boston might be the example of a large city that does well with crime. Perhaps that's due to the Mafia? lol just kidding. 

Boston is also a very educated city, and it permeates all aspects of society there.

[nashvylle]

6 minutes ago, jmtunafish said:

Boston is also a very educated city, and it permeates all aspects of society there.

but then I look at Washington DC which is also very educated but a dangerous city, I scratch my head. 

[smeagolsfree]

4 hours ago, markhollin said:

A bit more information on the city's plan to sell the Rolling Mill Hill-based District Energy System (90 Peabody St.--just on the other side of KVB from Ascend Amphitheater) to ENGIE North America for $60 million.  The facility produces steam and chilled water to heat and cool various downtown buildings. The Metro Council and DES customers — which include the State of Tennessee — will need to approve the sale.

Andre Cangucu, chief development officer for ENGIE North America says, "Once we complete the contractual process and if we are approved by Council, we have a plan to invest nearly $250 million dollars to upgrade and grow the system, with two key objectives of creating cost-savings for customers and expanding capacity to meet the needs of downtown Nashville’s exponential growth.”

ENGIE owns or manages more than 350 similar systems worldwide.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/article/21066096/metro-looks-to-sell-energy-system-site

A bit more I am thinking too is that if this sale goes through, you can bet your bottom dollar that the cost to the users of this service are going to pay a lot more as Metro has been subsidizing it for some time thus the need to sell it.

I will bet the State will work out a deal so they will not pay as much as the rest of the commercial users which will cost those private users even more, when and if sold.

[smeagolsfree]

9 minutes ago, nashvylle said:

but then I look at Washington DC which is also very educated but a dangerous city, I scratch my head. 

I did a lot of walking around Washington and I just kept my eyes open, If there were areas that started to look sketchy, I started booking it back the way I came or in the direction I came from. Many times and I am not the usual tourist, I check out the surrounding areas out on a map before hand and when I get there and I am driving I drive some of those areas. 

I dont walk at night in areas that are not well lit or late if I can help it and always get nervous when no one else is around on the street, then my Spidey sense goes into overdrive and I am hyper aware of everyone and everything around me. 

I also travel with a minimum of cash, one C Card, and my license that are both in my sock or my shoe. Yes, I am not your typical person, but it has worked for me so far.

[donNdonelson2]

I spent the summer of 2003 in Boston. After a threatening situation at about 10:30pm on a Sunday night, I never walked without pepper spray in hand after dark again. Ironically, I later find out that in the state of Massachusetts you have to have a permit to carry pepper spray, much the  same as needed to carry a gun.

The safest city I’ve spent time in-Tokyo! Little kids walk alone to the trains to go to school. We were told we could safely leave hundreds of dollars in Japanese currency laying around in our hotel rooms-no worries.

I find that in most US cities one should be cautious and appropriately aware of your circumstances. If an area looks questionable, don’t take the chance! I do not walk as casually in downtown Nashville as I once did. The number of suspicious characters has increased along with the numbers of “good guys” out there. (And I always walk with pepper spray in hand after dark!)

[smeagolsfree]

The Columbus project is pretty cool when I saw it. I thought how is it that Metro and TDOT cant get past their politics to make something like this happen here. The lawmakers in Podunk TN would be upset TDOT is spending money instead of all the roads to nowhere in those local counties where NOTHING is happening, and NOTHING likely will.

[Bos2Nash]

55 minutes ago, nashvylle said:

Boston might be the example of a large city that does well with crime. Perhaps that's due to the Mafia? lol just kidding. 

[titanhog]

1 hour ago, smeagolsfree said:

The Columbus project is pretty cool when I saw it. I thought how is it that Metro and TDOT cant get past their politics to make something like this happen here. The lawmakers in Podunk TN would be upset TDOT is spending money instead of all the roads to nowhere in those local counties where NOTHING is happening, and NOTHING likely will.

We should wall off those rural areas...or give them to GA, AL, KY, etc.  We don't need them. 

[donNdonelson2]

Georgia would LOVE to have Tennessee’s rural areas! Atlanta needs the water. (Careful what you wish for.)

[BnaBreaker]

25 minutes ago, titanhog said:

We should wall off those rural areas...or give them to GA, AL, KY, etc.  We don't need them. 

Kind of a big leap to assume someone saying 'transportation dollars are better spent in Nashville' actually meant 'screw all rural areas, we don't need em.'  Haha

[titanhog]

39 minutes ago, BnaBreaker said:

Kind of a big leap to assume someone saying 'transportation dollars are better spent in Nashville' actually meant 'screw all rural areas, we don't need em.'  Haha

It's an ongoing "talk" on this board that rural areas don't deserve much of the tax money they receive...nor the "pull" they have when it comes to state politics.  You know it.  Haha. 

Edited April 26, 2019 by titanhog

[BnaBreaker]

15 minutes ago, titanhog said:

It's an ongoing "talk" on this board that rural areas don't deserve much of the tax money they receive...nor the "pull" they have when it comes to state politics.  You know it.  Haha. 

There definitely is, and I understand the sensitivity people feel there, but that still doesn't mean that there was any truth to your implication that smeags was saying 'screw rural areas, we don't need them.'  Just because one thinks a we get more bang for our transportation buck when they're spent in a state's capital doesn't mean they think all rural areas should shrivel up and die.  There are many varying degrees to that debate, is all I'm saying.

[LA_TN]

Y'all realize that food comes from rural areas (and not grocery stores), right? Those roads to rural areas do provide a valuable service for you, even if you never drive on them

[BnaBreaker]

2 minutes ago, LA_TN said:

Y'all realize that food comes from rural areas (and not grocery stores), right? Those roads to rural areas do provide a valuable service for you, even if you never drive on them

Well, of course...  but again, varying degrees... I don't think anyone is opposed to having quality roads in rural areas, but having 'quality roads' doesn't necessarily mean that every county has to have a big network of divided four lane highways either, I think is what the argument is.  

[MLBrumby]

IIRC, one of the governors over the past 30 years actually made it a goal that every county would have a 4-lane divided route into/through it. 

[LA_TN]

1 hour ago, BnaBreaker said:

Well, of course...  but again, varying degrees... I don't think anyone is opposed to having quality roads in rural areas, but having 'quality roads' doesn't necessarily mean that every county has to have a big network of divided four lane highways either, I think is what the argument is.  

And I absolutely agree with you on this. I can name a few roads, that have never heard of a traffic jam, which were expanded to 4 lanes because of politician xyz. On the other hand, I've seen a few 4-lane roads replace hilly curvy roads that had high death rates and accidents. I-840 cost more than what would be needed to 4-lane half the counties in the state; but, it was built to reduce truck traffic through Nashville. How did that turn out?

Why waste money capping an interstate? Or for golf courses? Or _____? Answer: because we waste money on politicians

[jmtunafish]

2 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

IIRC, one of the governors over the past 30 years actually made it a goal that every county would have a 4-lane divided route into/through it. 

I'm pretty sure that was Ned McWherter who himself was a country boy from West Tennessee.  I totally agree that every county deserves good, safe roads, but that doesn't mean they should be four-lane superhighways.

[Mr_Bond]

On 4/26/2019 at 11:01 AM, MLBrumby said:

Lots of good examples you've shown. I think that stretch of interstate being adjacent to the coveted Gulch and Midtown sections would make this idea especially feasible in a few years. I realize it's a stretch to assume that TDOT could get out of its own way, but if they could see the feasibility, they should start planning for that now. It would take 10-15 years to be a reality. I remember when the Robinson Humphrey's Financial Center was planned above GA400, and it took years to plan... and (surprisingly) not a long time to build in comparison. Of course, the funding for GA400 was all from tolls. 

Um, back on topic...

I've been wondering is there is some improvement needed to the interstates before we cap them.  I guess we could build a second level of I-65 to the east of downtown rather than the west.  If TDOT has a wish list of things they want to do to that stretch of I-40/I-65, would they delay capping until they had checked all the boxes on their list?

[markhollin]

Home2Suites MetroCenter (5 stories, 100 rooms) update. Digging equipment on site.

Looking east from 3rd AVe. North at intersection with Clay St:

 

[Bos2Nash]

On 4/27/2019 at 3:54 PM, Mr_Bond said:

Um, back on topic...

I've been wondering is there is some improvement needed to the interstates before we cap them.  I guess we could build a second level of I-65 to the east of downtown rather than the west.  If TDOT has a wish list of things they want to do to that stretch of I-40/I-65, would they delay capping until they had checked all the boxes on their list?

Nope, Nope, Nope.

I agree with you on getting some wish list items for TDOT out of the way, but that wish list cannot include double decking any portion of the highway. Any tunnel would need to have 15'-0" to 20'-0" clearance minimum (I don't the actual standard), but to achieve that with either of the highways around the core we would either need to dig down, or mound over. Also, the money that would have to be spent on that would eliminate any financial feasibility for capping, not to mention the worsening traffic it would create. 

[Bos2Nash]

On 4/16/2019 at 6:14 AM, markhollin said:

3rd Ave. North Townhomes (four 2 story buildings, 8 units) update.  Topped out.

Looking north along 3rd Ave. North from intersection with Coffee St:

 

Looking NE from 3rd Ave. North, just south of I-65/40 overpass:

My firm's engineering group did the stormwater planning for this development. I remember seeing it and instantly felt bad for the future residents on the hot days where the water treatment plant is ripe.... Poor poor souls

[PaulChinetti]

I don't think we need any new interstates or even more lanes. Especially nothing double decker. The interstates are busy but occupied time or whatever metric it is for when they are actually in use has to be nowhere near capacity. It already takes up so much land in our city, I don't want it to take up more!

[markhollin]

The Antique Mall at 612 8th Ave. South is going to close after a 30 year run.  The structure is part of the 6 parcels owned now by Harmolio developers out of NYC.  The Voorhees Building and Epiphany Design Studio are two of those structures.  It is still unclear what their plans are long term for the several acre site.  Pat Morris, who owned the Antique Mall is going to retire.  The 45 vendors who have stalls there will have to find other digs.   on May 31st.

More behind The Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/retail/article/21066694/venerable-pie-town-retail-business-to-close

[BnaBreaker]

Hopefully they aren't planning on demolishing that building.  It's one of the only original structures down in that part of the town worth saving.

[e-dub]

I've picked up some absolute gems from there over the years